New Philanthropy Capital

Non Profit ID card: present your project/organisation/campaign

Questions answered by Esther Paterson, Research Analyst and PR Executive, New Philanthropy Capital.

 

-Where are you based? London, UK

-What are you called? New Philanthropy Capital (NPC).

-What are you doing and why? NPC is a charity think tank and consultancy dedicated to helping charities and funders achieve a greater impact. We provide independent research, tools and advice for funders and charities, and shape the debate about what makes charities effective. We have an ambitious vision: to create a world in which charities and their funders are as effective as possible in improving people’s lives.

-Do you have a website/email? www.philanthropycapital.org; epaterson@philanthropycapital.org

-Do you have a Twitter/facebook link/name? Twitter name: NewPhilanthropy

Blog: http://newphilanthropycapital.wordpress.com/

-What makes you so special? We are the only organisation in the UK to combine research and advice services to improve charity and funder effectiveness. We have a unique method of analysing charities, set out in our publication, The little blue book. This is backed up by broad knowledge of the charity sector and specialist skills in measuring and communicating impact.

 

The turning point

-How did you start? NPC was founded in 2001 by a group of economists and bankers who were trying to find the best way to give away money to charity. They struggled to find any information and advice to help them decide where to invest their charitable donations most effectively. So they decided to fill the gap. Initially set up with the goal of helping donors find effective charities, NPC has now expanded its approach to focus both on charities and donors.

-What keeps you going every day? We believe that we can help charities and funders to become even more effective in changing people’s lives and tackling social problems.

-Who is your target? Charities and funders.

-How are you financed? We receive grants to do research, fees from our consultancy work, and unrestricted income from organisations and individuals who believe in our mission.

 

The challenge

A proud moment? In May 2009, we were proud to partner with Bertelsmann Stiftung in Germany to bring together 200 professionals from more than 20 countries, including Israel, Brazil, and Canada, for a conference: Valuing impact: Building an Association of Non profit Analysts. The conference explored the idea of forming a global membership body for professionals involved in social impact or non profit analysis. There was a great deal of positive feedback from the conference and enthusiasm for such a membership body, and we are now in the process of setting up the Social Impact Analysts (SIA) Association.

-A problem you face? We are always encouraging other organisations to measure their impact, but we find it challenging to measure our own impact as we are, at heart, a campaigning organisation, seeking to change charities’ and funders’ attitudes. This year, we are implementing a full system for measuring our impact, and we plan to publish an impact report.

-Your personal motto when things get hard? When things get hard, we just think about the enormous difference that our work has the potential to make to charities and the people they help.

-Another cool project/organisation/campaign you would like to recommend? PHINEO—an organisation that is similar to NPC and was recently launched in Germany. PHINEO provides guidance for social investors on various fields of philanthropic action and specific projects that promote effective engagement in the non profit sector. www.phineo.org

www.philanthropycapital.org

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